Brief Encounters

Some of the most consequential legal battles are decided not just by the parties in court but also by the scholars who help judges understand what’s truly at stake. Northeastern Law faculty recently weighed in on major cases before the courts:

Birthright Citizenship

Professor Rachel Rosenbloom joined colleagues from Harvard and the University of Michigan in filing a brief in Trump v. Barbara at the US Supreme Court, arguing that President Trump’s executive order denying birthright citizenship to certain US-born children violates both the Fourteenth Amendment and federal statute — specifically the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952. “Every lower court that has considered the validity of Executive Order 14160 has struck it down,” said Rosenbloom.

Environmental Rights

Professor Martha Davis, faculty co-director of the Center for Global Law and Justice, joined law faculty from Washburn University School of Law and the University of San Francisco in a brief to the New Mexico Supreme Court in Atencio v. State, arguing that New Mexico’s pollution control amendment creates enforceable rights against state-authorized oil and gas production.

Vaccine Access

In American Academy of Pediatrics et al. v. Kennedy et al., US District Court Judge Brian Murphy of Massachusetts cited a brief co-authored by Professor Wendy Parmet for Defend Public Health — the only amicus referenced in the decision — when denying the government’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s alteration of COVID-19 vaccine recommendations. The brief argued that the shift to “shared clinical decision-making” created significant barriers to vaccine access. Parmet, faculty co-director of the Center for Health Policy and Law (CHPL), also co-authored a second amicus in the case, with Professor Dorit Reiss of UC Law San Francisco and Shannon Rempe, program director for CHPL’s Amicus Project, again for Defend Public Health and in collaboration with attorneys from Hooper, Lundy & Bookman. Kristin Meader ’27, Lilly Jangala ’28, Victoria McFadden ’27, Mariel Manzor ’27 and Luna An ’27 assisted with the brief. In March, Murphy issued a stay in the case, effectively blocking the Department of Health and Human Services and Secretary of HHS Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from controversial changes to the national pediatric immunization schedule. The government has filed an appeal.

False Advertising

Professor Alexandra Roberts, faculty director of Northeastern Law’s Center for Law, Information and Creativity, joined Professor Rebecca Tushnet of Harvard Law School in submitting an amicus brief to the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in support of medical testing company CareDx’s petition for rehearing. The professors argued that the court’s ruling nixing a $45 million false advertising verdict against a rival would effectively bar juries from relying on circumstantial evidence and embolden false advertisers to test their luck in court.